Background

Prior to seeking office, Joe served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as an Assistant District Attorney in both the Middlesex County and Cape and Island’s District Attorneys’ Offices. A graduate of Harvard Law, he was an active member of the school’s Legal Aid Bureau – a pro-bono law firm that provided legal services to low-income families around Boston. During that time he also co-founded an afterschool program for at-risk youth in the Boston area with his wife, Lauren.

Earlier in his career Joe served as a member of the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic where he designed and implemented an economic development project that helped create jobs and increase the standard of living in an isolated community near Puerto Plata. Joe has also worked as an international development analyst for the United Nations’ Millennium Project and as an anti-poverty consultant abroad. He is fluent in Spanish and currently sits on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, as well as the House Committee on Science and Technology.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Joe holds a bachelors degree in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.[2]

Defense spending cuts letter

May 19, 2020.

Dear Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Thornberry:

We write to request a reduction in defense spending during the coronavirus pandemic. As you draft this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), we encourage you to authorize a level of spending below last year’s authorized level. Congress must remain focused on responding to the coronavirus pandemic and distributing needed aid domestically. In order to do so, appropriators must have access to increased levels of non-defense spending which could be constrained by any increase to defense spending.

Warren connection

In 2006 Joe Kennedy III sat in Elizabeth Warren's freshman contract law class at Harvard. Later he studied in Warren's bankruptcy class. He often called in to her office to "learn more about the economic pressures on American families. At the time he was working as an unpaid intern for Representative Bill Delahunt.[4]

PDA contact

On Hugo Chavez

In March, 2013, Former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy II offered his prayers to the family of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying he cared deeply about the poor and helped nearly two million Americans through the former lawmaker's heating assistance charity.

Kennedy, who heads Citizens Energy, said Chavez cared about the poor at a time when "some of the wealthiest people on our planet have more money than they can ever reasonably expect to spend."

Kennedy, a son of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, founded Citizens Energy in 1979 with the goal of reducing home heating oil costs for the poor and elderly after the energy crisis of the 1970s.

Kennedy's son, newly elected U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, D-Mass., also released a statement saying: "My thoughts and prayers are with President Chavez's family," the younger Kennedy said in a statement. "In this time of transition, it is my hope that the United States and Venezuela can build a productive relationship for the future."[8]

Immigration rally

Some 800 immigrants and their supporters rallied at Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall on April 6 2013, to demand comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship.

SEIU Local 615 President Rocio Saenz, herself an immigrant from Mexico and a veteran of SEIU’s Justice for Janitors campaigns, led the rally. She spoke eloquently of the integral connection of immigrant rights with union rights and human rights. She also introduced supportive speakers Sen. Elizabeth Warren and new Mass. Congressman Joseph Kennedy III.[9]

The Faneuil Hall rally and march aimed to pressure Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million foreign-born immigrants living in the country illegally.

Both Democrats called for the passage of immigration reform once Congress resumes session following its Easter break.

“My Spanish may not be great but it’s coming from the heart,” Warren said with a chuckle that was met with laughs and cheers from the crowds, armed with flags and signs, who packed Faneuil Hall.

“It’s far past time . . . to have common sense, comprehensive immigration reform,” Warren said. “We need a path to citizenship, we need to support our dreamers, we need to fix the visa system and, most of all, we need to help families to stay together.”

Moments later, Kennedy led the crowd in chants of “Si se puede” — Cesar Chavez’s motto adopted as a rallying cry by the immigration movement — before launching into a speech, in which he also jumped between English and Spanish, about the country’s need to address its broken immigration system.

Right now we have the moment, we have the opportunity to change it,” he said. “We cannot let up for a minute.” [10]

Hunger strike

Cristian Avila, Dae Joong Yoon, Eliseo Medina

December 4, 2013, saying their 22-day "fast for families" to demand Congress approve comprehensive immigration reform had gotten worldwide attention, former Service Employees Secretary-Treasurer Eliseo Medina and his fasting colleagues ended their D.C. vigil by handing off the fast to a group of successors.

The fast drew continued attention to the issue, and support from Democrats all the way up to President Obama, who visited the fasters in their tent at the foot of Capitol Hill on Dec. 1. But it did not budge the decision-makers it targeted: the anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic GOP majority in the U.S. House.

Medina "handed over" his fast to Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., and the Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners. In a joint statement, Medina and his fellow fasters said "we fasted in the shadow of the Capitol to call attention to the human suffering caused by our broken immigration system. We believe we have raised awareness about families being ripped apart by deportations, immigrants dying in the desert and millions of people living in fear every day.

Medina and the other fasters, supported and escorted by their friends and colleagues - including SEIU President Mary Kay Henry - weakly walked to the center carpet behind the mike and sat patiently waiting for the symbolic end of their fast: Bread and liquids offered by two Catholic prelates, including Cardinal Emeritus Theodore McCarrick of D.C. They then left, with their escorts, for a medical checkup.

Kennedy ceremoniously began his fast by accepting a small cross from Eliseo Medina, a longtime immigration rights activist and labor leader who was concluding a 22-day fast Tuesday.

"Immigration reform is something that’s been important to my family. My uncle was a champion of it when he was in the Senate," Kennedy said in reference to his great uncle, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). "At this point, we need to get some movement on this bill and whatever we can do to try to break the logjam is important, so I wanted to be a part of it."[12]

Condemning Criticism of Islam legislation

On December 17, 2015, Rep. Don Beyer, Jr. introduced legislation condemning "violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States." The legislation is based on unsourced claims that there is a "rise of hateful and anti-Muslim speech, violence, and cultural ignorance," and a "disproportionate targeting" of "Muslim women who wear hijabs, headscarves, or other religious articles of clothing...because of their religious clothing, articles, or observances." The resolution, H.Res.569 - Condemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States [14]

"Anti-trans violence resolution"

Ellison said in a statement Monday the Transgender Day of Remembrance “takes on even more significance” in 2017 as a result of the significant rate of violence against transgender people.

“We also recognize that the victims of this violence are almost all transgender women and transgender women of color,” Ellison said. “This is an important day, but we should not consider our jobs done because we’ve observed this one day. Instead, we must commit ourselves to the principle of liberty and justice for all and ensure everyone is safe to live and thrive in their community.”

Ellison’s resolution observes transgender women of color are more likely than white transgender women to face mistreatment by police, an assumption they’re sex workers and incarceration in prison.

Among other things, the resolution calls for ending racial profiling in law enforcement practices; ending the practice of placing transgender people in solitary confinement; and ending the practice of immigration detention for vulnerable populations, including transgender people.

Transgender resolution

Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), chair of the Congressional Transgender Task Force, introduced a resolution in the U.S. House on Monday to recognize violence against transgender people.

“Our nation has lost too many transgender Americans to targeted, bigoted violence in our communities,” Kennedy said. “With this resolution recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance, Congress can commit to confronting these tragedies and protecting all of our citizens.”

In addition to recognizing the Transgender Day of Remembrance, the resolution calls for enhanced federal data collection of anti-trans violence and encourages federal and state governments “to study, respond to, and prevent violence against transgender people.”

Loehrer connection

NIAC connection

Thanks to Congressman Kennedy for meeting with our Boston volunteers! Our team joined him to talk about how the travel ban and sanctions have affected them and about their concerns for a war with Iran.